Happy 100th Day!

Happy 100th day of school!  Can you believe that our school year is already over halfway through? 

New Year, New Look!

As you can see, there have been some changes to our class blog!  I hope this new year finds you refreshed and ready to take on the second semester.

RESOLUTION  (re-solu-tion)
re = again
solution = a way to solve a problem

(solve = from the Latin root meaning "loosen", as in "solvent" 
tion = act or process of )

So, what we can take from this is that the act of making New Years resolutions is to help people solve some of their problems.  Gee, had you ever really thought of it that way before?  Makes perfect sense!

What are some of your resolutions for this new year?  Please feel free to share below in the comments section!

-taken from a middle school lesson plan by Penelope Bartsch

Wonderful Work Samples!

Hi Families! 

I want to congratulate those of you who turned in EXCELLENT work samples! 

Here are a few AMAZING samplings of what I found when I was looking over your work.  Keep in mind, this is just some of the stellar work that I saw from my students.  Due to space and time constraints, I was not able to publish everything to the class blog.  Many of you turned in exemplary work samples!

Read over the following excerpts from student work, maybe one of them is YOU! 

An 8^th grader who was commenting on his Art sample:

“In this picture I created an abstract tree by using simplified shapes and colors.  I used repetition by using several ornaments on the tree in similar shapes and sizes.  I arranged the white ornaments in a way that it drew your eyes down the tree...”

A 7^th grader who wrote about Johannes Gutenberg for her History essay:

“…the most influential person in European history was Johannes Gutenberg.  He invented the printing press with moveable type.  This was a groundbreaking invention, and without him and his printing press, knowledge would not have spread nearly as fast.  As a result, the world would be nothing like it is today.”

A 6^th grader comparing and contrasting early civilizations in her History paper:

“…So are there any more interesting facts about these civilizations?  Yes, there are many little bits and pieces of fun information that I haven’t yet told you.  For example, did you know that China is the world’s longest-lived civilization?  Sumer has actually built humungous temples layer-by-layer to form five-story monuments!”

An 8^th grader writing about conservation in America for her History paper:

“Sometimes too much of a good thing turns out to be not such a good thing.” (GREAT HOOK!) “Because we Americans were so rich with so much land, we became very wasteful.  We had so much land and resources that we thought we would never run out.  America grew so rapidly.  Thomas Jefferson though we had enough land to last us until the hundredth or thousandth generation.  That was obviously not so.  In 1980, when the US Census Bureau said that there was no more land, it came as a shock to the people of the United States.”

A 6^th grader’s artwork:

An 8^th grader’s artwork:

Great job students!  THIS is the reason why I love being a CAVA teacher!  Keep up the amazing work!!  

January Student of the Month

Meet Aliya!

She is new to CAVA and is absolutely loving it!  I have had the opportunity to meet Aliya on a couple occasions and have always been very impressed with her positive attitude and ambition.  For example, she fulfilled a semester's worth of Study Island requirements in just a few short weeks!  She has been so successful with CAVA that her older sister was encouraged to join just a couple weeks later!    

But more about Aliya:  she is a musician and plays gigs locally with her mother and sister.  What instrument, you ask?  The drums!

She is also a fantastic artist.  I have seen some of your work from Art and it is absolutely amazing!